Stay in! Watching PGA turmoil’s last 60 mins
In the final round of the PGA Championship on Sunday, at the 18th hole of Valhalla Golf Club, approximately 325 yards from the tee and about 250 yards from the hole, Xander Schauffele’s golf ball inexplicably heeded the attention of a spectator about 25 yards away to the left of the fairway. However, as the scene quickly unfolded, they hoped it would be ignored.
Schauffele seemed to wish they would shut up too.
Was this week’s affair over just like that? Were these seven days more filled with drama than a golfer’s golf ball soaring high above? First, there was the unfortunate mishap. Scheffler. McIlroy. And one turned a soft course into a shooting range. There was chirping there. Is this profession worth it? Where’s the buzz? To merit the Wanamaker Trophy, you need to create a stir. Nevertheless, Sunday at Valhalla still brought us a crowded leaderboard, both in terms of the number of players and star power, and in the close contests on the par-five holes.
You know, the stars birdie these holes.
“You know what’s going on. But what will happen next? Who will make a move? Let’s move over there. It’s getting late. We have about an hour left until departure.
But be careful!
Around 6 PM local time, Justin Rose from the fourth-to-last group walks to your left and right. The ball’s final destination is to the right of a transparent souvenir bag. It looks like there are a few shirts inside. At least that’s Rose’s estimate. He picks it up, finds its owner, and expresses praise. “Happy shopping.” Rose then takes the ball and pushes forward. The hole will yield scores, but not without danger, let alone the souvenir bag. To the right of the 573-yard tee is water. Rory McIlroy almost found it on his way to victory in 2014. To the left of the tee is a sand trap. That’s what Rose lacks. That’s where you are.
The distance to where Viktor Hovland eventually arrives is about 10 yards. He’s only a few feet away from the starting point of the sand. Bryson DeChambeau is right there, about 20 yards ahead. In the third-to-last group, they launched an attack. DeChambeau caught 6 birdies, 19 strokes under par. For Hovland, birdies and scores are crucial too. On the 18th, they lag behind Xander Schauffele, who is leading after the first, second, and third days, and now it’s the fourth day. They need that birdie. They need to wait. Up ahead, Rose and his partner, Robert MacIntyre, are finishing the game.
They waited for five minutes.
Hovland sees through the lie. The ball is standing upright in the first long grass hole. He talks to his caddy, Shay Knight. Hovland takes off his cap five times, wiping his brow. Sunday’s weather is sticky, even in the twilight. He mostly puts his hands on his hips. He drags his feet. A pause isn’t ideal. Not now. He positions himself. He takes a step back. Maybe there’s some mud on his ball. He calls Knight over, and Knight crouches down to take a look. Alright, clear. He hits the iron hard onto the fairway to the right of the cup, about 45 yards away. DeChambeau then quickly fires. He squats while waiting. When he shoots from the sand trap, he hits the ball along the left side, about 30 yards from the flag.”
Run! You need to take a look at these!
If they go up and down, they flatten. Throw in, they lead.
Hofland’s throw height is 10 feet. Next up is Deschamps. Two practice swings. Move forward, onto the green. Another practice swing. Step back. Took a step forward. Two wobbles. Another practice swing. A fairway. Some frustration. He’s 11 feet away.
“I know what I have to do,” he said. “I know I’m working to create an eagle. The third shot didn’t come out as I imagined, but that’s the fact.”
Move to the green!
Deschamps is not there. There’s buzzing—there’s buzzing. You know, we’re in Bourbon country. But thousands just quietly grumble. Deschamps looks at his putter from behind the hole. He looks at it from behind the ball. He talks to the caddy, Greg Bodine. He taps the spike marks. He places the ball down. He looks at the putter. He steps back. He takes a few swings. At 6:25, his ball rolls toward the hole. Two seconds later, it drops.
Ah!
Deschamps raises both arms. He clenches his fists. He retrieves the ball from the hole. He clenches his fists again. He and Bodine high five. “I guess I summed it up again, just like—a you know, like an idiot,” Deschamps said.
It’s Hofland’s turn now. He completes the AimPoint putting practice. Dragging his feet. Dragging his feet. He places the ball. He steps back. He comes back. Four, practice strokes. He misses. Then he misses again. No tie. He gets third place.
Book a return to the fairway bunker!
A birdie for Bryson DeChambeau on the 72nd hole.
He's tied with Xander Schauffele for the lead.
#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/eGrGBa2Vqu— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 19, 2024
Xie Aofei is here!,At 6:40, he tees off alongside Deschamps. A few seconds later, the group behind you pleads.
“Get away!”
He does. It doesn’t go into the sand—about a foot. Oh oh oh. This means Xie Aofei’s feet have to stand in the bunker, the ball slightly higher than him. Not ideal. At 6:42, he begins to survey. Partner Colin Senchuwan takes the first swing. Xie Aofei talks with his caddie, Austin Kaiser. He practices swinging outside the bunker one, two, three, four times. He steps back. He walks into the shelter. He huddles inside. He walks out. Another practice swing. Then he really swings. The ball lands about 35 yards short of the green, to the left. The shot he just made was so difficult that analyst Johnson Wagner even tried to replicate it on the Golf Channel.
“I’ve been telling myself, buddy, somebody’s won it for me right now,” Xie Aofei said of his second stroke. “I just keep grinding. I stand up and just smile. I thought to myself at the time, if you want to be a major champion, this is what you have to deal with. So I dealt with it, and I’m glad to be able to push that thing up.
“I only care about how to swing it out of the baseball bat.”
Another two shots, and he wins.
Another three, and he ties.
More importantly, you know the score.
Run again! Head towards the green!
At 6:50, Xie Aofei stepped onto the court. Five bounces. It stopped six feet away.
Victory is just six feet away.
Six feet from the top spot in the Grand Slam.
Six feet from the gang behind the green that could explode. His wife, Maya, is there too. Friends are there. His coach, Chris Como, is there. Worth noting, he once collaborated with Deschamps.
At 6:52, Sencawa finishes.
Thiophyll is crouching a few yards behind his target. He walks towards it. He places the ball down. He takes a step back. He steps back to his ball. He crouches down again. He takes another step back. He crouches down again. He stands up. He practices two strokes. He comes back again.
At 6:53, he putts.
His ball rolls for two seconds.
It hits the bottom left of the hole (imagine the 7 mark on a clock), spins, stops (imagine the 2 mark), and drops. Lips are pursed. Who cares?
Winner!
21 strokes or less!
The lowest score in Grand Slam history!
Caesar drops the pin he’s been holding. Thiophyll raises his arms. Caddies and players embrace. Thiophyll hugs Sencawa. He hugs Caesar again.
Sink it, soak it in.
@XSchauffele is a major champion @PGAChampionship. pic.twitter.com/M55mksCLRT— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 19, 2024
I was extremely nervous,” Spieth said. “I walked up there and saw a little bit of left to right. I had been reading it straight, just sliding. I started looking at it from right to left, and I thought, oh my goodness, this is not the winning putt I want. Luckily, it was uphill, probably about six feet. I ended up playing it dead straight. It did break a little left, caught the left edge. It was really nice.
“When it went in – I don’t really remember it going in, I just heard everyone roar, and I just kind of looked up and let out a breath.
At 6:55 PM, he walked off the green.
Game over.
